Read
Psalm 44:11
You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations.
9But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies.
10You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
11You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations.
12You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale.
13You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
Notice
“sheep for food” makes Israel’s defeat stark: the people face death and displacement, and their complaint names God as the one who has handed them over.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What is hardest for you to read in this complaint addressed to God?
Write on thisWhat difference does it make that the people speak together as those scattered among the nations?
Write on thisWhose suffering comes to mind when you read “sheep for food”?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 44:22Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.Both verses compare the people to sheep facing death; verse 22 adds that they suffer for God’s sake.
Deuteronomy 4:27The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will lead you away.Both passages name God as the one who scatters his people among the nations.
Psalm 106:27that he would overthrow their offspring among the nations, and scatter them in the lands.Both passages describe scattering among the nations as God’s action, with Psalm 106 also naming the overthrow of offspring.
Deuteronomy 28:64The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, …Both describe God scattering his people among other peoples; Deuteronomy also describes the worship of other gods there.
1 Peter 1:1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,Both concern a dispersed people, though Peter’s greeting does not describe the slaughter or divine rejection voiced in the psalm.
Leviticus 26:33I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.Both connect scattering among the nations with violence, and both attribute the scattering to God.
Romans 8:36Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”Both portray God’s people as sheep facing death; Romans quotes the slaughter language of Psalm 44:22.
Ezekiel 34:12As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all …Both describe scattered sheep; the psalm names God as the one who scatters, while Ezekiel promises that God will seek and deliver them.
Psalm 49:14They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in …Both use a flock facing death as their image, though Psalm 49 names Death as the shepherd.
Ezekiel 5:10Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you, and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you; and I will scatter the whole remnant …Both attribute scattering to God; Ezekiel names judgment amid horrific violence, while the psalm voices the scattered people’s complaint.
Isaiah 11:11–12It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, …Both concern God’s people spread across nations; Isaiah describes the Lord recovering the remnant, while the psalm laments their scattering.
Jeremiah 32:37“Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them …Both attribute displacement among nations to God; Jeremiah also promises gathering and safety, which this verse does not yet describe.
Where this verse fits
Grief. feeling distant from God. injustice and anger.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Such a stark complaint belongs within Scripture. You do not have to soften its horror: these scattered people still address God in the midst of defeat.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 44:11. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).